There’s a growing sense around Major League Baseball that Jazz Chisholm Jr. won’t be back with the New York Yankees.
A qualifying offer looks highly unlikely, even if free agency always leaves room for a surprise. And if Chisholm doesn’t land the kind of deal he wants, the Yankees could still decide a short-term reunion makes sense at the right price. That’s at least one possibility the club will have to weigh as it handles a busy stretch of roster decisions over the next couple of months.
The issue, though, isn’t Chisholm’s production. It’s the attitude concerns that have followed him, with multiple reports saying his approach hasn’t sat well with people in the Yankees’ front office or clubhouse.
That’s where Aaron Judge has been pulled into the conversation, and not exactly fairly.
Judge is the Yankees’ captain and one of the best players in Major League Baseball. Even while dealing with injuries this season, he remained the player the team leaned on as the voice in the room. Still, one NJ.com writer took aim at him while discussing Chisholm’s behavior.
“I’ll start with this: All the stuff that Jazz Chisholm got away with the last few years and that clubhouse culture stuff you’re hearing from CC Sabathia, Joe Girardi, Alex Rodriguez, Jorge Posada and other Yankees alums who won World Series is partially an indictment on Aaron Judge. He is the captain. I know Judge is a great leader because I’ve heard it from almost every player who’s been in the Yankees clubhouse going back to 2017, Judge’s rookie year.
“You can’t find a better teammate. He calls team meetings to give pep talks and point out mistakes.
But I think the Yankees had problems this year that weren’t stopped - Jazz’s antics, players getting picked off base, fundamental mistakes. I think that needs to change and I’d like to see Judge be a little tougher.
I think if he was tougher, some of this stuff would stop because Judge is so respected,” Randy Miller of NJ.com wrote.
There’s no question Judge has responsibility as a captain to help set the tone and make sure the right standards are in place. But Chisholm is still responsible for his own choices, and Judge can’t be blamed for every move that rubbed people the wrong way.
He can’t stop Chisholm from going out to second base with a lollipop in his mouth, making comments to the media, or showing the other frustrating habits that have become part of the discussion.
It’s easy to look for a single person to hold accountable. But in this case, the Yankees’ captain can only do so much.
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Jeffers would bring the kind of offensive upside the Yankees have been missing behind the plate, even if the defensive profile is not as clean. His arrival would also ripple beyond the immediate upgrade, because it could alter how the club maps out Austin Wells and the rest of the catching picture as the Yankees try to balance production now with the long-term plan. [Read more 🡒]
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Even so, the episode kept a familiar talking point alive around New York, where any criticism of the organization tends to carry extra weight after a disappointing postseason. Murphys explanation may have softened the edges of the original video, but it also underscored how quickly a casual aside can turn into another debate about the Yankees identity, and why the reaction around it has lingered. [Read more 🡒]